“Again!”
How many times had he faced this darkness—stretched on forever, a void with no light as Gaith’s eyes strained to see through the blackness, but there was nothing to see, nothing to hold onto.
It was a nightly ritual he had faced for the past 10 years. Every night, he found himself trapped in this nightmare with the deafening silence, stretching for eternity.
Even after trying to fill the void with his thoughts, they seemed small and insignificant in the face of that endless abyss.
And then, without warning, the darkness gave way to another scene. This one was equally familiar, equally painful. It was a funeral, his parents’ funeral, and Gaith felt the weight of their loss crushing down upon him once again.
“I’ll never get used to this,” he thought as he braced himself for another long night in this endless cycle of scenes from the past.
The scenes continued to play out before Gaith’s eyes, each a painful reminder of his past. He watched as his life unfolded before him, from when his parents died to the incident just two years ago.
He saw the faces of those he had killed, the people whose lives he had taken in his quest for vengeance.
“I’ll never get used to this!”
As the scenes continued to unfold, Gaith felt his mind denying that he was to blame for the pain and suffering he had caused. “I’ll never accept it!” Gaith shouted, his voice echoing through. “It’s not my fault! I kill you all in self-defense, nothing more and nothing less!”
He refused to accept responsibility for his actions, clinging to the belief that he was justified in his quest for vengeance.
But his body language betrayed him. His fists clenched tightly at his sides, his jaw in a hard line. He felt his muscles tense with anger and frustration, despite his attempts to bury these feelings deep within himself.
It was as if his body knew the truth, even if his mind refused to acknowledge it. The weight of his past mistakes hung heavily on his shoulders.
“Never, not gonna accept it!”
With the loud shout, the scene ended and turned back into the endless abyss. However, Gaith was no longer alone. One by one, the people he had killed appeared from nowhere. Their bodies were white and transparent, but their presence was undeniable.
"Sylvia Kurj, Bonnies Brown, Gerald Bryan, Rachmad Neilsen..." As the white figures appeared, Gaith called them out one by one, each one bringing back vivid memories of their faces, their names, their relatives, and even the way he killed them.
Despite the pain and trauma that haunted him, those memories were the only thing that kept him going. How ironic that the very memories he resented and blamed for his suffering were also the ones that gave him the strength to survive.
"... Kazuya Tokiyama, Benjamin, Reiz Isaad, William Isaad, Erick Isaad, Gen Isaad, Ayla Isaad." With those names called, the six hundred and twenty-seven transparent figures stood in line, encircling Gaith. Their eyes fixed on him, blood tears streaming down their faces.
“You know, at first it was only you, Herrad Einstein, who appeared in my dreams. But now...” Gaith trailed off, unable to finish his sentence as the white figures seemed impatient to wait any longer.
“Alright, let’s start … However, I’m gonna win again today!” Gaith shouted while snapping his fingers.
“For starters!” Gaith slammed his fingers onto his ears; blood was streaming down his shoulders as he lifted them. It was a preparation for what was to come—a piercing scream.
“Why did you kill me? What did I do wrong?” cried one voice. “Aren’t you the one who is the main reason for all this bloodshed?”
“You must die! You must die like us!” shouted another.
“Daddy, where’s my daddy? Why did you kill us? Give him back … Give him back!” wailed a child.
“It’s your fault, it’s your fault, It’s your fault that my family died in pain, it’s your fault!!” accused someone else.
“Because of you—Because of you! My family died!” Yelled another.
Despite the effort to make his ears deaf, the piercing, hateful screams echoed clearly inside Gaith. Little by little, it sliced through his confidence - his ego as the cries grew louder - louder, extremely loud yet clear.
He felt his soul being dragged down by the weight of their hate-filled voices; his body pulled along like a ragdoll in the face of their power.
Their words were like daggers, each one cutting deeper than the last. The anguished cries of those who had been wronged and the accusing voices of those seeking revenge were a cacophony of pain and suffering. And then, the final curse - a venomous promise of even more pain.
“We’re gonna make you suffer twice,” they promised. “No, ten times the pain than what we received. Curse you! Curse you! Curse you!”
Despite the overwhelming chaos around him, Gaith managed to hold on to his sanity. He ran with his eyes fixed on the endless abyss ahead, breakthrough from the circle, his feet moving faster and faster as if flying through the air. His only goal was to outrun the people who haunted him.
With each passing moment, Gaith pushed himself harder, running faster and faster with each stride. He was determined to escape the overwhelming power of those who sought to break him down.
“If only! If only you were not born! Then we will not die like this!”
Yet, there was no sign of those screams vanishing—no, they only grew more intense and persistent with each passing moment. His already bleeding ears started to pour out even more blood. His eyes and nose followed suit, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the noise. It was far more stressful than being beaten by his master, more painful, and more desperate because he could do nothing to fight back.
“Why are you all blaming me for this? It’s not like I chose to be born into these circumstances!” Gaith shouted, struggling to catch his breath.
After running as fast as he could, Gaith’s feet were finally caught by the hands of the white figures. They pulled at his body, intending to rip him apart while taunting him with the words, “You should suffer like us!”
But Gaith was not one to give up so easily. He fought back with all his strength, wriggling his body like a chicken had just been slaughtered. “I’ve already suffered, you fools!” he wanted to shout, but he knew he couldn’t tell them how much their actions had hurt him.
Unfortunately, the white figures proved too powerful, and Gaith’s body began to be torn apart. First, his left hand was ripped off, followed by his right foot, and then his eyes and ears. Another hand and foot were also torn from his body.
Despite the excruciating pain, Gaith didn’t let out a single scream. That didn’t mean it wasn’t painful - in fact, it was far more painful than anything he had ever experienced. While he wasn’t accustomed to this kind of torture in his daily routine, he had never shown any weakness since the nightmare had begun.
Instead, Gaith had shown bravery and confidence, believing he had to bear the consequences of his actions without faltering. And so, even in the face of unimaginable pain, he refused to give in, determined to face his fate with unshakable courage and resolve.
“Another victory for me!” Gaith shouted triumphantly, even though his head was ripped from his limbs.
*
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The digital clock on the table beeped relentlessly, reading 03:00 in bold LED lights. Gaith groaned and reached for the clock with a shaky hand, trying to silence the noise. Once the beeping had stopped, he scanned the table, searching for the object that usually sat beside the clock.
Panic set in as he realized it was missing. Gaith’s heart raced as he frantically searched for the missing item. His eyes darted back and forth across the table, but it was nowhere to be found. His mind raced with questions. Had it fallen off the table? Had someone taken it? The uncertainty made his pulse quicken.
Just as he was about to straighten his body, a voice pierced the eerie silence of the room, coming from the corner near the door.
“Looking for this?” The source came from Luis, who sat on a couch with a half-open book with a torn cover in his hand. His voice was soft but unmistakable, sending shivers down Gaith's spine.
After Gaith’s body half lifted from the comfortable bed, he found out the thing he was searching for was in Luis’s hand, “Yes!” he said, “Did you see all of that?”
Luis lifted his eyelids as the answer for Gaith's question.
“Huft! I don’t care what you think, but it’s not what your mind thinks!” Gaith said and took a slow breath to calm himself down.
“Aaalright?” Luis replied in an exaggerated tone that fill with mockery.
Then Luis offered Gaith the book back, but Gaith declined, saying he had already memorized its contents.
Luis shrugged and settled back into the couch with the book while Gaith took a rubber to tie his long hair into the back before leaving the bed.
“Don’t kill yourself, God loves you!”
The words Luis said were the same as what was in Gaith’s, though. It frightened him, although that thing wasn’t really strange anymore for Gaith.
“Stop reading other people’s minds!” Gaith shouted as he stared at the old man that looked like a live skeleton.
Luis sighed and said, “I didn’t read your mind”’ he exclaimed. “And just so you know, I don’t read people’s minds! What I read are their expressions, their tones, and their gestures to understand what they’re thinking.”
Gaith responded disgustingly, “I didn’t care. It was the same for me!” He was clearly upset, but Luis remained calm, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at Gaith with pity.
“Okaay! But I did not read your minds earlier, what I did was reading a verse that was more worn out than any other verse in the book.” Luis uttered, then repeated the verse he read earlier.
That made Gaith mad, but he did not want to fight, so he quickly approached the door. But before he could leave, Luis asked him, “Where are you going?”
“Take a walk!” Gaith responded, his tone unfriendly.
“In this time?” Luis asked, sounding concerned.
“Yes, It’s not like I can go back to sleep again”, Gaith replied tersely.
The two stared in tense at each other for a few seconds. Then Luis broke the silence, saying, “You know, you should get more sleep. Young bodies need eight hours to rest.”
Gaith smiled wryly. “It’s not me that needs sleep, but you, brother. Don’t you know what’s been done to my body?”
The remark hung between them, and once again, they fell into silence. Luis focused back on his book, but he read it with a voice Gaith could hear. It once again flamed the anger inside Gaith because he felt like Luis was pitying him.
So, Gaith stepped away from the room, his mind racing with thoughts. “Why is he pitying me?” he wondered. “Does he think I’m overwhelmed by guilt for my actions? That’s ridiculous. It’s not like any of this is my fault in the first place.”
Gaith walked down the kitchen, lost in thought. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Luis was judging him, even though he knew it was irrational. He tried to convince himself that he wasn’t burdened by the situation, but deep down, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of being weighed down by it.
Gaith, not wanting to dwell on his thoughts any longer, turned back towards the room. As he entered, he saw that Luis already closed his book with eyes at the door.
“You’re back,” Luis said with a smile. “That was quick.”
That reaction made Gaith think, “He already read that I’ll come back huh! What a scary old man!”
“Hey.” Gaith cleared his throat, “I don’t know why, but I will tell you that I am not burdened by the actions I did in the past!” he explained.
Luis shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze away from him. “Sure,” he said with a smile.
But Gaith felt a spark of anger ignite within him. How could Luis be so dismissive of his feelings? He began to explain why he wasn’t burdened by his past actions, but as he spoke, he could see that Luis wasn’t really listening. Luis only said, “Okay! Well! Alright! Sure!” as the response for every explanation.
Finally, at the end of his explanation, Luis spoke words that cut through Gaith’s frustration. “Just who are you trying to lie to?” he asked, his tone serious.
Gaith was at a loss for words, still reeling from Luis’s question. He couldn’t deny that he had been trying to deceive himself, but he didn’t know how to admit it—no, he did not want to admit it.
“See!” Luis said, interrupting Gaith’s thoughts. “Where did the last chapter I read, huh?” He opened back the book.
With that, Gaith left the room and progressed with his daily routine: morning jug. Leaving Luis in his secret passage room alone.
***
As Gaith disappeared from the room, leaving behind an eerie silence in the underground house, Luis sighed heavily and closed the book in his hand. He leaned back against the couch; his eyes wandered up to the faint red light of the ceiling. He felt a deep pain at the thought of Gaith’s burden.
From the beginning, Luis knew that Gaith was haunted by the weight of his family’s legacy. Even though Gaith tried to hide it behind a facade of indifference, Luis could see the pain lurking in his eyes.
Especially when Gaith’s presence was a swirling vortex, with the world revolving around him.
As the sole heir of the family that controlled the world, Gaith was a valuable pawn in the power games of many factions. Some sought to use him for their own gain, while others wanted to eliminate him altogether. But Gaith refused to be a mere puppet in their schemes; he fought back with all his might, using any means necessary to survive.
And because of that, there was a lot of loss of life and destruction.
The toll of this endless struggle weighed heavily on Gaith’s conscience, and he blamed himself for the casualties and destruction that resulted from his actions. Luis wished that Gaith could share his burden with someone, but he knew that Gaith’s pride would never allow it.
As Luis sat in the dimly lit room, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had made the right choice. Perhaps it would have been better for Gaith to confide in him and let go of some of his burdens rather than shouldering them alone and pretending not to be affected by them.
“What a foolish man!” Luis said before closing his eyes.
***
On the other hand, Gaith ran with a sense of freedom, relishing in the buzzing sound of the machines flying around him and lighting the path he traversed. He was going to the mountain peaks, just a thirty-minute run from his store.
As he ran, Gaith felt the cool breeze brushing against his face, invigorating his senses and reminding him of the beauty of nature. The soft crunch of the gravel beneath his feet added to the rhythm of his steps as if the earth itself was pulsing with energy.
However, his feet suddenly came to a halt as he was confronted by an individual in a red cloak covering every inch of their body. Gaith felt a surge of unease as he asked, “Who are you?” That was an unusual sight for him, as most people in the area started their day at 4:30 in the morning, and it was only 3:13 at this point, making that encounter seem even more peculiar.
Gaith’s mind raced with possibilities. Was this stranger a fellow jogger or a criminal? The person’s ominous appearance, covered in a cloak, made Gaith lean towards the latter.
He lifted his hands defensively, preparing for a fight, his eyes locked onto the stranger. Suddenly, Gaith lost sight of the figure before him. It happened so fast that he couldn’t keep track of it, which made him lose confidence in his eyes. “What?” he muttered in a confused and panicked state.
Even though Gaith’s eyesight was sharp and reliable, he couldn’t comprehend how the individual in the red cloak had vanished without a trace. At that moment, Gaith’s survival instincts kicked in, and he quickly scanned the area to find where the individual was. “Where...Where...Where,” he muttered.
Suddenly, the figure appeared beside Gaith, sending shivers down his spine. The stranger whispered, “I’m here to punish you,” Gaith instinctively pushed him away. But instead of feeling a solid texture, his hands touched something soft and light, like a flying cloth.
In a matter of seconds, the figure had already moved several feet away from Gaith. He felt a surge of fear and uncertainty as he tried to figure out what was happening. Was this some kind of supernatural entity? Or was he losing his mind?
Gaith’s body trembled as he slowly processed the events unfolding before him. He sighed in relief as he realized who the mysterious figure was. “So, it was her,” he muttered.
But as the realization set in, Gaith couldn’t help but feel frustrated and annoyed. He had trained relentlessly for years, pushing his body to the limit in a hellish training regimen. And yet, in just two short years, that woman had managed to become even stronger than him; that was in Gaith’s thought.
And with that, Gaith sat down with his legs crossed, ready to face whatever consequences lay ahead. “Just make it quick!” he shouted clearly.
The stranger gave no reply and let out a white crystal ball in their hand.
Gaith was initially confused by the object, but as it began to flicker with regular beeps, he felt a sense of urgency and ran towards it.
“That’s not how you do it!” he shouted, his voice filled with desperation. “I’m not going to fight back, even if you stab me ten thousand times. But if you’re suggesting double suicide, I won’t allow it, not now and not ever!”
For Gaith, suicide is something stupid and pointless to do; if there were a time when he had to choose suicide because of a girl who broke his heart, he rather choose to kill the girl instead.
Why would he choose to suffer alone when the one who made him suffer was the girl. That’s what Gaith had in mind.
Despite Gaith’s efforts to stop the stranger, it was already too late. The white crystal exploded, sending a blinding flash of light that seared into Gaith’s eyes and burned through his nerves and muscles.
“Damn, how foolish you are! No, it's myself who is foolish!”
He felt his body torn apart, pulled in different directions as the explosion ripped through him; he felt an intense wave of pain wash over him. But despite the agony that consumed him, he refused to let out any screams.
~~To be continued~~